Monthly Archives: January 2016

Get the power to complete all your school work with the college laptops.

Chances are good you already have a few ideas about what laptops for college need. Great streaming capabilities, a long-lasting battery, and all the tricks or software that you (or your loved one) need for specific classes. But when the time comes to find the right model, the choices can easily overwhelm. That’s why we’re here! We have collected a list of the top laptops for college students around.

When picking out one of these school-oriented laptop computers, several specs are worth taking a look at. The size and weight are surprisingly important, because that laptop will get carried around a lot. The processor and RAM are also key, because that laptop may have to run some demanding software, depending on the college class. The goal, then, is to find something powerful enough, but with all the mobility necessary. If entertainment is particularly important, then dorms rooms will also appreciate a larger, high definition display.

You’re sitting at home, reading this website and wondering what you’re doing with your life? We hear you, bud. Here you are, reading OhGizmo! when you could be doing something productive instead. Like what? Well, you know, you can learn a lot of stuff online. Marketable skills, like making games! The Complete Game Developer Course featured today teaches you how to just that.

Construct 2 is an incredibly useful game development engine that allows you to create games without writing a line of code. Learn to master Construct 2, and you’ll be in the company of top-rated games on Steam and the App Store that were also created with this engine. Plus this course will have you building games from scratch, so by course’s end you’ll have 60 real operating games under your belt.

– Learn practical, employable skills w/ over 423 lectures & 34 hours of content
– Start making games from scratch w/ Construct 2
– Create 60 real-life games to add to your portfolio
– Make art & game design in Photoshop
– Watch the courses at any speed you want
– Build a variety of different types of games
– Learn from a professional game developer who has released over 40 games

So of course, decent quality learning isn’t usually free. What’s nice though is when you don’t have to pay through the nose for it. Today’s deal brings the price of this course down from $300 to $39, a basement bargain price.

Then again, when I take a look at the obscene $2,595 price tag, maybe that sofa in the common room will do just fine. I mean, it’s a cool looking chair, and the way it easily leans back in a position where your feet are higher than your head, “giving you a liberating sense of weightlessness” kind of sounds like the sort of thing I could get behind. But you know, that’s like four month’s rent right there, bud. Yes, I know it’s old as the world, or at the very least as old as my uncle. But I’m ready to bet some of you don’t know it exists. And negative comments about the price aside, I’ve tried some “gravity chairs” and it is pretty cool how you can lean forwards or backwards at almost any angle with nearly no effort. But it’s not $2,595 cool, sorry.

If the sight of the spaghetti tangle of cables behind your desktop gives you anxiety, consider yourself lucky you’re not one of the CERN engineers tasked to remove old cabling at the Large Hadron Collider before its next big equipment upgrade. Over the years of upgrades and maintenance, the particle accelerator has grown in complexity, and has left colossal piles of cables crisscrossing in a surprisingly disorganized manner. Now a team of 60 engineers is being tasked with figuring out which cable does what before it can be unplugged, lest the entire system lose data or go into failsafe mode and stop working. All 9,000 of them. And these are only the ones associated with the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PS Booster), the Proton Synchrotron (PS), and the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). So far the team has identified “2,700 of the 9,000 obsolete cables that are believed to exist in the three instruments. Evrard believes they will be able to find 8,000 of them before the LHC comes back online, which should make it feasible to get all the cables out of the way when the time comes for installing new cables in 2019 and 2020.”

Are you tired of tablets but still want an ultra-portable, fast-acting laptop that you can use for a variety of tasks on the go? That’s why the top ultrabooks exist – and these lightweight machines continue to hold their own against tablets thanks to their power, affordability, and those handy keyboards.

Yes, you sacrifice some power and storage with an ultrabook (they pair well with an external storage drive), but you also gain unique features. Chromebooks are also a good example – these cloud-powered machines are very affordable, super light, and use the Chrome OS, making them ideal for fans of Google who don’t mind working in the cloud. Plus they’re fairly inexpensive.

When looking for the best ultrabook, it’s smart to pay attention to several key factors. The first is, of course, the OS – do you need a Windows computer, a Mac, or a Chrome machine? Many programs and apps are not compatible across different operating systems. You should also compare battery life and storage. Battery life can vary, but is usually around 10-12 hours – preferably more if possible. Storage also varies, but if you are willing to pay high prices you can find a model with a 256GB SSD, which will improve speed over a traditional hard drive. That all in mind, let’s take a look at some of the top models.

Control the temperature of your home with a touch of a button with the iDevices Smart Home Thermostat. Easily installing in just minutes, this thermostat can be totally customized to be the perfect temperature for you and your family. The iDevices Thermostat connects seamlessly to iOS devices and can be commanded with your voice via Siri. The app also lets you control the temperature when you’re out so you can turn the heat on before you even get home. The Smart Thermostat is clever enough to set heating schedules and even heat specific zones more than others. The outside of the iDevices Thermostat looks just as smart as the technology with its simple gloss white exterior with just four buttons and a modest screen

Parents everywhere rejoice: meet the simple, (mostly) conflict-free gadget that enables you to limit your kids’ internet use without coming off as the bad guy. With the days of a shared family computer long gone, it’s not unusual to have at least one tablet or device per child, and while this can make for a much more peaceful household, it does make it considerably harder to keep an eye on children’s online activity. This is where KoalaSafe comes in. A simple, inoffensive device that plugs into your existing router, it enables you to block specific sites, such as Facebook for example, or simply cut off internet access altogether.

The idea came to Australian developer Steven Pack when his niece and nephew got their first tablet devices and started spending much more time indoors – a story that will no doubt sound familiar to parents everywhere. Rather than adjusting the settings on each individual device, KoalaSafe gives parents centralized control by creating a separate wireless network that can be cut off at any time. It also allows for a certain degree of flexibility, with the option of shutting off specific categories or apps in addition to the adult sites that are blocked by default. Parents can also set up a schedule, limiting internet hours to certain times of day. The best bit? It doesn’t require any spyware or blocking software, making it harder for savvy kids to meddle.

Look, you can’t just keep your mobile device in your hands all day, ok? That’s, like, hours holding something that weighs, at least, you know, like a pound. If you wanna rest that thing somewhere while you catch up on your YouTube subscriptions, you’re going to want something like the Dundabunga Universal Unipod Stand.

This twisty little stand will hold up your smartphone, tablet or camera anywhere you go. Using magnets and flexible materials, it has full 360 degree rotation so you can twist and bend the stand for your device to face any direction you want. Put it in your car, on your kitchen table, outside in the yard, or even wear it on your body.

– Includes disk to attach your smartphone or tablet to
– Connects to your devices via magnet for easy removal
– Features unlimited positions & places to attach
– Compatible with most all devices

You take electricity for granted, my friends. But there are parts of the world that are off the grid, and guess what, these folks need to see in the dark too! The Lumir C is meant to work without batteries or any form of external electrical source, and be used in settings like camping or simply as an effort to conserve energy. The device powers its LED light through harvesting the heat from a burning candle. You see, a good portion of the energy given off by a candle goes right into the invisible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, being released as heat-carrying infrared radiation. The Lumir C harvests this “wasted” energy and uses it to power its LED light, giving off a light output of 15 lumens via four 0.2W LEDs… about as much as a candle, actually. But remember, you also have the light from the burning candle still going, so the Lumir C effectively doubles the visible output from a candle. With this arrangement, you can open up mood and lighting possibilities candles alone couldn’t provide. It’s a $59 pledge, with shipping in July.

OhGizmo! is a frequently updated blog that focuses on covering items that will appeal to a very specific and often very passionate audience: the geek. Aside from the fare of innovative consumer electronic products, the reader can expect to find news about geek culture, absurd inventions, awe inspiring technology, and an ever growing assortment of articles that we like to think fit within our view of what we’re calling the Geek Lifestyle.